Then, rushing from his
stronghold, he had dealt his blows, clearing the Valley from end to
end, destroying the Federal magazines, and threatening Washington
itself; and when the overwhelming masses he had drawn on himself
sought to cut him off, he had selected his own battle-field, and
crushed the converging columns which his skill had kept apart. The
hapless Pope, too, had been handled in the same fashion as McClellan,
Banks, Shields, and Fremont. Jackson had lured him forward to the
Rapidan; and although his retreat had been speedy, Lee had completed
his defeat before he could be efficiently supported. But,
notwithstanding all that had been done, much yet remained to do.
It was doubtless within the bounds of probability that a second
attempt to invade Virginia would succeed no better than the first.
But it was by no means certain that the resolution of the North was
not sufficient to withstand a long series of disasters so long as the
war was confined to Southern territory; and, at the same time, it
might well be questioned whether the South could sustain, without
foreign aid, the protracted and exhausting process of a purely
defensive warfare. If her tactics, as well as her strategy, could be
confined to the defensive; that is, if her generals could await the
invaders in selected and prepared positions, and if no task more
difficult should devolve upon her troops than shooting down their
foes as they moved across the open to the assault of strong
intrenchments, then the hope might reasonably be entertained that she
might tire out the North.
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